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“You should.” She stands and covers me back up, then takes off her gloves and tosses them in the bin. “From what I can see, things look fine.”
“Great, that’s a relief,” I answer. “Do you think it’ll … you know … function normally after this?”
She shakes her head. “Hard to say. It’s just such a rare occurrence that there isn’t much in the literature about it. The closest thing I found was a guy who had an erection for thirty-six hours after one of these bites, but in that case, he hadn’t received any medical attention.”
“Was he okay?”
Shaking her head, she says, “He died. But don’t worry about that. Your erection is already gone and your blood pressure has lowered significantly. You’re getting the best care possible. I’m confident you’ll make a full recovery. Just don’t go trying to use it too soon. Give yourself a few days off, at least.”
“Okay, yeah. Good tip.”
“Seriously, don’t worry,” she says, placing her hand on my forearm. “You’re young and you’re in phenomenal shape, so you’re going to bounce back really quickly, I’m sure.”
“Thanks,” I answer, even though she’s in no way an expert on Brazilian wandering spider bites.
“Okay, well, I should go check on my other patients,” she says, picking up my chart and jotting something down. “I’ll see if I can swing back to look in on you before I’m off for the night.”
“Excellent.”
Dr. Blaire walks to the door, then swings it open to reveal Allie standing in the hall just outside. “All done.”
Allie walks in and waits until the door closes before she says, “Is it me or does she not like me very much?”
“I kind of got that impression too, but for the life of me, I can’t think of any reason not to like you.”
Blushing, Allie looks away, her eyes landing on the balloon bouquets lined up along the wall. “I think it’s got more to do with how much she likes you, which I’m guessing is the case wherever you go.” Gesturing to the gift bags, she says, “Just look at all this stuff. Seriously, it started showing up when we were still in the ER. Do you know how not normal that is?”
“You mean most people aren’t showered with gifts moments after an insect bite?”
“Technically, it was an arachnid, not an insect,” she says with a little grin meant to soften the fact that she’s correcting me. “But the answer to your question is yes. This isn’t the reaction normal humans get.”
I tilt my head to the side. “I am a normal human.”
Wrinkling up her nose, she says, “I beg to differ.”
“The whole fame thing … there’s nothing real about it. I know it looks amazing from the outside, and there are a lot of perks, but it’s also a whole lot of bullshit. People say they love me, but they don’t really love me.”
“Sure they do.”
I shake my head again. “They can’t. They don’t know me. They love the idea of me. Or whatever character I played that they think is the real me, but they don’t know who I am.”
“Well, you seem like a lovable guy.” Offering me a playful grin, she adds, “But you are a professional liar, so…”
I grin at her. “Well, you’re getting the real me.”
“I am?” she asks, walking over to one of the gift bags.
“Yup, I’m too high to pretend.”
“Oh, so if I wanted to, I could get you to tell me your deepest, darkest secrets.”
“Only if you’ll tell me yours.”
Glancing up at the ceiling as if she’s deciding, she says, “I don’t know if I like those terms.” She squints at the card and gasps. “Do you know who these are from?”
“No idea.”
“Stephen.”
